This is a still from my first piece of 3D and my first animation.
I took on this project for a friend of mine to kick start an new area of work for myself. We are waiting to get the track released as a single at the moment.

Hope you like it and Enjoy
Check the music video at:
http://www.wilenkin.com/transformers
(you will need FlashPlayer 7)

Any comments, suggestion or advice welcomed!!

sande

06 June 2004, 12:31 PM

The transformers animation was excellent! I never realized they were so good at dancing... ;)

Very nice work, very stylish, I liked the music also. Not much to critisize, but maybe the beginning with rotating building didn't exactly match the style of rest of the animation...

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 01:49 PM

Thanks man, glad you liked the breaking. The first scene of the moon base recording studio was done by a friend who I was studying with. He'd done it as his project and it seemed to fit with the rest of the vibe so I got him to rejigg bits to try and make it fit in a bit better.

As it was an uncommissioned project we had to be as resourceful as we could at the start to get 3mins 45 of animation to fit the music. But by the time we hit the edit suite we had nearly fifteen mins of raw renders...

Thanks for your crit, appreciated and noted...
Nice1

FLOw

06 June 2004, 04:57 PM

omfg that was excellent dude

it works sooo well with the electro music :)
very ladytron/felix da housecat (and a bit kraftwerk) :D

gonna link this to my friend who loves transformers :)

JulianHo

06 June 2004, 08:10 PM

That was amazing. :applause:

KolbyJukes

06 June 2004, 08:21 PM

Really cool, how long did you spend animating?

-Kol

Edin

06 June 2004, 09:29 PM

That is so sweet. I absolutely love it.

Any way I could get a higher res version? It's really well done.

the_podman

06 June 2004, 11:55 PM

I'm like, watching this thing for the gazillionth time right now! Can't get enough of it. Best video on the net since the Steven Balmer "Developers" video.

It's rockin.

the_podman

krisippa

06 June 2004, 12:23 AM

guy. do me a favour. do the rest of the formers, and make them have a breaking session to settle their battle once and for all. Great work.. just a couple o questions about the animations.

Mo Cap, with some keys?
all mo cap.
or all keyed out?

no matter the answer.. great work.
more please

emptyvoxel

06 June 2004, 02:23 AM

Wow!

Soundwave was always my favorite, and this brings back a lot of memories (I had totally forgotten about the statistical readouts that came with Transformers). The animation is really just top notch, and the editing is great too.

The only problem I noticed is that after Rumble (I think that's Rumble, or is it Frenzy?! Anyway... the cassette guy) pops out and starts breakin', there are a couple of moments in the backspin animation where his shoulder busts through the floor.

I enjoyed this a lot. It gave me some much needed late night energy.

Thanks for sharing!
-T

RobW720

06 June 2004, 03:01 AM

well... i love this video more than breathing air.

so do my buddys. they are very impressed and would like to start a church in your honor. they want to know where to send you checks and money for making their day.

good work. very nice animation!

Zac256

06 June 2004, 03:24 AM

Great stuff! However there are several floor penetrations that should be fixed, especially near the end. And you may want to check on the transformers copyright information if you plan on selling the music any time soon.

3d43naveen

06 June 2004, 05:07 AM

Hi really good animation, Keep it up guys good work!!!

Larry_g1s

06 June 2004, 05:33 AM

Woot! Man that was sweet. The modeling AND animation were top notch. Great job. Man...seeing one of my favorite chartoons in 3D brings a tear to my eye.. :cry:

Bruiza

06 June 2004, 12:24 PM

It's great to see the transformers again!! 80's nostalgia is just soo quality. Damn nice edit of some quality renders.
What software did you use? How long have you been using it for?

~BruiZ :thumbsup:

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 12:34 PM

Wow! I've been blown away by all the feedback. I really appreciate all the props you guys have been giving the video. It makes all the hours put in seem worth it, to know everyone has been diggin' it so much, is dope!

In response to the questions asked:

Yes we used Mo-Cap. Some friends at Centroid3D.com helped us out and with the equipment and data clean up. So yes its a combo of Mo-cap and keyed animation. The Transform sequences and a few of the special moves like the HelicopterInvert moves, they are hand animated.

I terms of time taken to do the project...
Well we weren't commissioned to do the video so I had to do most of the modeling in my spare time. Soundwave, the main character took me two weeks to do because he was my first 3D model and it was a software learning curve at the same time. The little dood, 'Lazer', only took 3 days in all. But I did have to go back and do a bit more clean up on 'Soundwave&Lazer' later on when it came to UV texture mapping.

I spent 10 weeks on a Maya course at the end of last year at EscapeStudios.co.uk, learning the software's basics and learning how to animate etc. The last two weeks of the course I spent doing all the UV maps and textures, as well as building the additional scenery whilst Dan Kohn the guy who built the recording studio was doing his part on the course as well.

From Jan this year I was working at Escape and in between doing jobs to earn cash to live off I was using the Studios as a render farm at night and getting everything out rendered to individual frames.

Once all the rendering was done we spent two months, near enough, compositing and trying experiments with live footage, that I filmed, of Supple the Breaker, and getting all the renders into the edit in the right places.

The guys who wrote the track LAZER came down to the edit suite and basically tapped the beat into the edit so we had cuts exactly on the beats to make it impact audio and visually.

Then once we finished tweaking the edit, I spent two more weeks making the overlay graphics and fine tuning and tweaking. This was one of the most fun and satisfying parts on the project because we could see the light at the end of a very long steep tunnel.

So all in all it would be about six months approximately for the whole project. But spread out over at least a year and a half, with thinking about what we were going to do and getting the track finalized.

Just to give you and bit of perspective and history.
LAZER put the first rendition of the track together nearly four years ago and it went through nearly six versions whilst the video was being made.

Hopefully we'll be able to get them all put out there soon. We are in talks with Hasbro about getting the track released!!!!!

The bits where there is floor break through I will definitely tune up. It seemed like such a minor detail at the time and we had so much to get through but now I've had a bit of time off from it I will definitely go back a fix them. Thanks for pointing them out and keeping me on my toes.

Quite a long winded response I know, but thank you again, for all the feedback and the props. I will pass them on to the the other guys who worked on the project as well.

Nice1
:beer::buttrock::surprised::beer:

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 03:17 PM

Hey Bruiza,

The Video was done using MAYA and shake and Media 100 for Edit.

Gotta say a big thanks to EscapeStudios who are a valuable sorce of knowlege and a great school of visual effects based in London. The people who work there are to notch industry professionals who are happy to pass on what they know to people eager to learn. Big thanks for letting me use the studios as a render farm for the project. Nice1

http://www.escapestudios.co.uk

:bowdown: :buttrock: :bowdown:

the_podman

06 June 2004, 04:18 PM

Hey, just curious as to who the credit goes to for the actual dancing, since you said it was Mocap.

Could you just give a simple rundown of how you got the Mocap into Maya? Motionbuilder?

Thanks,
the_podman

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 04:38 PM

Hey PodMan.

It was my friend Supple a wicked coreographer who did all the breaking. Most props to him for his mad skillz and killah moves. will post a link for him once i get one.

The mo-cap comes in through Kaydara FilmBox then gets cleaned up. Then the Maya model is imported into MotionBuilder combined with the mo-cap data and exported as a Maya file.

There is some really good tutorials for handeling mo-cap data in the book by Sybex. Maya 'secrets of the pro's'.

Peace Podsta. :thumbsup:

TKelley

06 June 2004, 09:16 PM

Very, very cool. I love the fact you put the ability charts in, so much nostalgia... Amazing work.

Hellwolve

06 June 2004, 08:14 AM

:buttrock:

In one word: awesome!

:beer:

Makes me want to download the track as MP3...but with you wanting to sell it, that's not gonna happen, eh?

;)

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 01:45 PM

Sorry had to take link down until further notice. Will re-post when its back up again.

Peace Out!!
BenniH

Sandizzle

06 June 2004, 01:58 PM

Dammit, I wanted to see what all the comotion was about

Gnome

06 June 2004, 04:28 PM

Lets get some mirrors of this action up. I, and it seems like everyone else, really want to see this video.

Sounds like it's awesome!

FFNeX

06 June 2004, 04:31 PM

Aaaaahhh! I didn't get to see it! Put it back up! Put it back up! Put it back up! :scream:

*breathes into paper bag*

DustyKrakk

06 June 2004, 10:42 PM

Phenomenal, man.

This is making the circuits already on a LOT of Transformers message boards, btw (I know because I am a huge Transformers fan myself).

Congratulations! ;)
Nothing to crit at all...I hope you make more.
And definitely release the single. Great song!

-Dusty

MSmith

06 June 2004, 01:26 AM

A friend of mine just sent me this link (I hope it's the same video).....

http://triadfrog.home.comcast.net/

Coolest video ever! Where do I download the MP....errr I mean legally purchase the single.....

Sandizzle

06 June 2004, 02:04 AM

I may be the only one who thinks this, but its mediocre, not bad, much better than I or many of the rest of us can ever do, but transformers don't interest me, the music goes well with it, so kudo's for that. It seems like there is a lot of clipping, when they're feet protrude through the floor. Good job nonetheless.

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 10:32 AM

I have just seen that the whole site has been ripped and mirrored at triadfrog.home.comcast.net, so i have re-posted the original at:

http://www.wilenkin.com/transformers

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 10:38 AM

Sandizzle. May I just ask, but if transformers don't interest you why are you posting on a transformers thread...?

Thaks for the crit though. I know there is a bit of floor clipping to fix still.

p.s. can you post some of your stuff so I can see your definition of mediocre as your link '[No More Room In Hell HL2 Mod' doesn't seem to go any where...

Respectfully.
BenniH

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 10:43 AM

Yo MSmith!!

Man your VW clip inspired me to do the video in the first place... SupaProps to you my friend!!!

I'm loving the live action stuff. We tried some live action compositing but couldn't get it quite right... gonna try re-rendering in mental ray for a special scene.

Peace MSmith

BenniH

Sandizzle

06 June 2004, 11:13 AM

Originally posted by BenniHaarna
Sandizzle. May I just ask, but if transformers don't interest you why are you posting on a transformers thread...?

Thaks for the crit though. I know there is a bit of floor clipping to fix still.

p.s. can you post some of your stuff so I can see your definition of mediocre as your link '[No More Room In Hell HL2 Mod' doesn't seem to go any where...

Respectfully.
BenniH
I am giving my opinion, you can't please everyone, so it shouldn't matter. It was well done but it didn't interest me.

The link is down because our host went down today, will be back up very soon.

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 12:09 PM

Cool, look forward to checking it out.

Peace.
BenniH

FFNeX

06 June 2004, 03:03 PM

I'm also a TF fan. The beginning didn't interest me that much, it was cool to see Sound Wave in 3D and all but I didn't care much for it. The ending just rocks my world though. I'm sending this to every transformers fan I know! Major kudos

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 03:15 PM

The problem we had with the biginning part was that we had only 1 clip of mocap data for Soundwave to cover 3:00 mins and about 24 for LAZER to pack into 1:45. And LAZER doesn't come in to the track until the 3:00 min mark... So we had to do alot of repeat stuff to fill in the middle 8 section for example.

Apologies for the repeats.
BenniH
:blush: :shrug: :blush:

mattmos

06 June 2004, 03:26 PM

Caught this at the onedotzero festival, it's great stuff man. yeah technically there may be some minor niggles but the cinema loved it, had people laughing as the waves of nostalgia came flooding back!

Looking forward to your future projects:beer:

MajinPunisher

06 June 2004, 07:24 PM

I thought that this was great fun, and I must be late coming across it.

The mocap worked in real nicely.

I understand the problem people might have with the repeats, but this video is more about motion graphics than it is about linear character animation, so I think it works fine.

Very inspiring.

-Andy

krisippa

06 June 2004, 07:37 PM

you are the only one that thinks it is mediocre.

also, calling it mediocre because of some clipping is a little silly. it is not a film, nor is it a showcase of character animation, nor is it the greatest modeling in the world. but its very, entertaining, and touches a lot of people in the 20-30 age bracket. For that it is great.

dont hate.

Dene of Terror

06 June 2004, 10:06 PM

wish there was a downloadable version of the vid! id love to put this on the video projector at the club i dj at! the punters would really dig this! most of them are transformers fans!

Sandizzle

06 June 2004, 07:54 AM

*sigh* why do I even bother with the youngsters.

obelisk

06 June 2004, 09:37 AM

hey... if it was all mocap... does that mean your friend the choreographer can actually transform into a ghetto blaster? that is a killah move...

[sorry... i couldn't help myself]

BenniHaarna

06 June 2004, 03:55 PM

Yeah well the breakers name is 'SUPPLE'

peace
BenniH

Bruiza

06 June 2004, 11:41 AM

lol I bet that impresses tha ladies on the club dancefloor.

Gotta get him to teach me that one!

AveOfSpades

07 July 2004, 07:03 AM

hehehe cool animation!:thumbsup:

Dish

07 July 2004, 07:17 AM

Hi Benni

Liked your animation very much.

Just a few questions about the course at Escape Studios.

Is it possible to go from standing start and learn Maya etc to such a high standard in just 10 weeks?
Also, where do people get 7 1/2 grand to do this course?

Congratulations on your success

Acree

07 July 2004, 07:04 PM

Dude

I really like your anamation.:applause:
It was exquisiete.
I'm really looking forward to the soundtrack. Might try something like that myself. Hope to see something similar latter.:thumbsup:

ages

07 July 2004, 01:28 AM

As emailed, this is just excellente'!

And too choose soundwave...

Wondering how did the animation get created?
What methods are in use...

Acree

07 July 2004, 02:16 PM

Cool dude!!

I find it hard to believe just how funny soundwave dancing was.:)

Hope you do more coz that would be exelent and hellarious.:thumbsup:

Do realese the sound track please!!

Is it true that there is going to be a transformers movie in 2005?:shrug:

Coz that would just be wierd, the original was set in 2005 and the new one released in 2005.

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